Zhou Gongjin
Zhou Gongjin (周 公瑾) is an antagonist seen throughout the series who is manipulating conflicts and problems behind the scenes. Appearance and Personality Zhou Gongjin is a good looking man with long hair that extends to his waist and yellow eyes. He is normally seen wearing a suit. He wishes to destroy the Yotsuba family and the Great Asian Union. He underwent Surgery of Perpetual Youth and one of the successful product of that magic. Due to this, even though he was at his 60's, he retains the appearance of his 20's.Volume 17, Chapter 4 Background Zhou was from Dahan before it was destroyed by the Yotsuba and assimilated by the Great Asian Union. Now having to work for them, he shows no real loyalty to the Great Asian Union and is actually trying to sabotage the Great Asian Union for his own benefits. He wishes to destroy the Yotsuba Family so that he can avenge his fallen country. His boss shows the same thoughts as him. He is the owner of a Chinese restaurant, which is his headquarters and hiding place for his boss, Jiedo Heigu. He secretly talks to his boss in the basement about their future plans and goals. Goals The ultimate goal of Gongjin and his boss is the destruction of the Yotsuba Family. The reason is because the Yotsuba Family had destroyed Dahan that Zhou and his boss had originally belonged to. This resulted in Dahan being taken over by the Great Asian Union. In order to achieve their ultimate goal, Gongjin and his boss had begun to devise many different chronological plans: 1. Zhou had planned to manipulate the events leading up to Scorched Halloween, in order to weaken both the Great Asian Union and the Japanese Military. Zhou wished to weaken the Great Asian Union, so that binding law would weaken, which would allow Zhou more freedom of movement. Zhou wished to weaken the Japanese Military by killing a large number of combat Magicians, which would indirectly weaken the power of the Ten Master Clans. *Results: Zhou succeeded in weakening the Great Asian Union by decreasing their military strength with the death of the Great Asian Union's Strategic-Class Magician, Liú Yúndé. This allowed Gongjin more freedom of movement. However, Zhou had failed to reduce and weaken a large number of Japanese combat Magicians because of the Japanese Military obtaining a fast victory over the Great Asian Union due to the efforts of the Strategic-Class Magician, Ooguro Ryuuya (Shiba Tatsuya). 2. Zhou had planned to increase the number of negative criticisms about Magicians with public media, in order to directly weaken the Japanese Magicians so that he can indirectly weaken the Yotsuba Family. *Results: He had achieved the partial success of increasing negative criticisms about Combat Magicians in Japan. however, Zhou was dissatisfied that the increased criticisms didn't achieve his desired level. Gongjin's plan of increasing negative criticisms had partially failed due to the efforts of First High School's demonstration on making a prototype of a Thermonuclear Fusion Reactor, the Rosen family approval of the Thermonuclear Fusion Reactor, and a broken agreement with Sawamura Yoshio on advertising negative criticisms on their public media company. 3. Zhou planned to assassinate Sawamura Maki, the daughter of Sawamura Yoshio, because of his broken agreement to advertise negative criticisms on their public media company. Zhou had Robert Sun, the son of Richard Sun, organize the assassination. *Results: Zhou's plan to assassinate Sawamura Maki had failed completely because Mahesvara (Shiba Tatsuya) intercepted them before they began to attack Sawamura Maki's Residence. 4. Zhou planned to cooperate with the Saegusa and the Kudou Family so that he could interfere at the Nine Schools Competition without any problems. Zhou planned to interfere with the performance test of the sealed parasites in the Nine Schools Competition by driving them out of control and injure the participants, which would indirectly weaken the Yotsuba Family. *Results: The combat servitors housing the parasites are neutralized by Mahesvara (Shiba Tatsuya) with the support from Pixie and Sakurai Minami. The test and plan are concluded to be a failure. Afterwards, Gongjin had to escape while fighting against the Kuroba Family who were sent by the Yotsuba Family because of all of Zhou's effort to weaken the Yotsuba Family. 5. Zhou planned to use the Traditionalists to help him escape all the factions that were trying to kill him. Zhou has brainwashed the Traditionalists (possibly with Evil Eye), in order to obey his command without any objection. *Results: The Traditionalists were defeated and Gongjin had to run away from the Traditionalists Military Base by the combined effort of Shiba Tatsuya, Ichijou Masaki, Kudou Minoru, and members of the Yotsuba Family. Zhou fought for his life against these powerful adversaries. However, when he realized that he could not escape his situation, he used magic to make himself burst into flames which left no trace of his body to be found. Future Plans 6. Zhou wants to find out the identity of the Japanese Combat Magician nicknamed "Mahesvara" by the Great Asian Union because of his constant interference with his plans. Currently, His Ghost (probably Consciousness) stays inside Kudou Minoru, after has been subjected to Loyalty Ancient Magic of Kudou Family. Volume 24, Chapter 4 Abilities Magical Abilities *He is one of the top apprentice of Black Sage, Gu Jie. In direct combat, it is hinted that he is probably stronger than his Master, Gu Jie. Notably, he is strong enough to severely wound the Head of House of Kuroba, Kuroba Mitsugu in a direct confrontation and able to escape from their search team and their trap during that conflict. 'Master Manipulator' *Zhou has shown that he is able to manipulate the events of major conflicts so that he would be able to benefit from them. Gongjin uses his connections to create and manipulate conflicts, in order to achieve his goals. Also, Gongjin can persuade other people into doing things for him, by redirecting their emotions and with his communication skills. *Zhou has an ability similar to Mind Control (Brainwashing) by taking advantage over victim's thoughts. Victims usually have a spider bite mark somewhere in their body. 'Ghost Walker' *Zhou's Special Ability that manipulates the target's direction, unrestricted by physical parameters. It is an ancient magic misdirect perception of direction. It allows him to escape from opponents and pursuit teams. Shadow Beast It is a magic that constructs a synthetic beast using shadows as a medium. The spell is a hybrid magic that incorporates western sorcery. Volume 14, Chapter 4 Healing Magic Unlike Modern Magic's Healing Magic, It's a kind of high speed regeneration magic, which truly heals the wounds. Volume 14, Chapter 4 Trivia *His name is taken from the historical Three Kingdoms period strategist of Wu, Zhou Yu (周瑜), whose style name Gongjin (公瑾) the exact namesake used for his given name. The Japanese script uses the on'yomi reading of Zhou Yu's name in Japanese Three Kingdoms media. *His character setting differs from the original. Volume 15, Afterwords References Category:Characters Category:Antagonists Category:Dahan Category:Great Asian Union Category:Magicians Category:Ancient Magic User Category:Deceased